The following could be easily a script for a magnificent hollywood sports movie. The difference is that most hollywood movies are not real! ;-) It is the whole story of the transformation of the Greek side and how the events unfolded through my eyes! :-) TITLE: "European Champions Greece: A FOOTBALL ODYSSEY FROM THE BOTTOM TO THE TOP OF EUROPE." (presented by P. Houlis) 5th September 2001. Finland - Greece 5-1. Greek football had just hit rock bottom, as this was the most humiliating defeat in our entire history. Yes, we had lost with such scores before, but not against countries like Finland that have never come even close to qualifying to a major event. This was our new coach's Otto Rehaggel first game. Otto knew that he had to change many things. Greek players were only interested in their clubs, and some even snubbed the national team. The first thing Otto did, was to throw away all the "primadonas" and gather a group of players that despite not being big stars in Greece, had a lot of skill and passion. 6th October 2001. England - Greece 2-2. England fails to beat Greece in a must win World Cup qualifier for them. But Germany allowed a 0-0 to Finland and England went on as first of the group. It was a game where Greece played excellent. But I never understood the persistance of the referee who was "pushing" England to score. I am a mathematician and I lost count of the times the referee gave a free kick to England just outside the big box. It must have been at least 20(!) times, a Guiness record maybe? From those fouls, no one managed to score, with the exception of a very last injury time free kick which stole from Greece a deserved victory... But we were already eliminated from the World Cup finals before the game, so for us it was only about pride! ;-) Greece finished third, a position not good enough to qualify to the World Cup finals in Japan and S. Korea. But this was the first sign of things to come... of a "hard to beat" Greek team... that no one would have ever possibly imagined. EURO QUALIFIERS ------------------------------ The Euro 2004 qualifying games start. Greece is in the same group with Spain, Ukraine, N. Irland and Armenia. 7th September 2002 Greece - Spain 0-2. Spain wins with a shocking 0-2 in the first game of the Euro qualifiers despite Greece playing probably one of their best attacking games ever. We had numerous chances and hit the post twice, but Spain held and won the game. A bad result but a brave performance. 12th October 2002. Ukraine - Greece 2-0. Despite another magnificent attacking display from Greece, Ukraine scored by using their only two chances... Even the Ukraine newspapers were praisinhg their luck and that says a lot! The Greek press accuses Otto of being too passive and wasting another opportunity for Greece. Everybody was pessimistic for the whole campaign. And who could blame them? It seemed to be history repeating itself once more. Otto thinks... In the next games he places Zagorakis as the main midfield player and introduces Charisteas as the starting striker. He realises that the missing puzzle was to move one of the midfield player a bit backwards to cover the defenders for those "dangerous couple of chances" that had allowed Spain and Ukraine to virtually steal the points from Greece. 16th October 2002. Greece - Armenia 2-0. The recovery was starting. It was a must win... Had we not won that game, Otto would probably have been sacked as there was intense pressure from the Greek FA. 2nd April 2003. N. Irland - Greece 0-2. The recovery was continuing. This result was not a big feat, but it surely was a difficult game and for the first time, there were big smiles between the Greek players. Otto's plan seemed to work so far...! And he was smiling too! 7th June 2003. The Spain - Greece game is coming. It is a game that Greece had very little hope in claming points. The Greek FA asks Otto to rest some key players, as four days later, Greece is playing Ukraine. Otto blasts the Greek FA and asks them to never interfere with his work ever again. The "losing attitude" has just been slammed by Otto! He uses ALL the key players and Greece beats Spain in their own turf! Spain - Greece 0-1. This was the turning point for the national team of Greece. The highway of success was opening. It was the first time Spain lost at their home during qualifiers, and it was the first time Greece beat Spain, ever! This result made Spain extremely nervous as now, we were breathing a point behind them. 11th June 2003. Greece - Ukraine 1-0. A very stressful game with a happy ending as Greece gets a very late winner. Had Greece not won this game, they would have been left behind from both Spain and Ukraine, in other words game over. In the meantime, Spain were held in N. Irland 0-0. Greece was suddenly on top of their group!!! 6th September 2003. Armenia - Greece 0-1. Another difficult game, where Armenia played very tough. We were more than glad to win this game! 11th October 2003. Greece - N. Irland 1-0. An extremely stressful game but again with a happy ending. The final whistle was the start for celebrations all around Greece as we had qualified to the Euro Finals after 24 years!!! A remarkable comeback after losing tow very important games in the start, and winning all the rest with no team managing to score a single goal against Greece! Otto's contract had been renewed until 2006, to stay with Greece for the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, and why not? He definitely deserved it!!! A string of friendly games starts for Greece. Most interesting ones: Portugal- Greece 1-1. Although left with 10 players early in the game, Greece shocks Portugal 0-1. But Portugal fights back to get a 1-1 draw. Greece had spoiled the celebrations of the opening of their new stadium for the Euro 2004. Holland - Greece 4-0. The first half ended 0-0 with Greece missing big chances to get the lead. During the halftime, Otto substitutes seven players to let them get some experience. The Dutch were happy with the result, but we didn't mind, as we knew that we had a strong first team! ;-) EURO 2004 FINALS START ------------------------------------------ 12th June 2004. Portugal - Greece 1-2. The very first game of Euro 2004. The whole world watching the premierre of one of the biggest football events. People all around the world betting for Greece to lose the game by 3-1 or 4-1, but they all lose their money! Otto's idea of using two strikers, surprised Scolari, and Greece went on to win deservedly. But there was something more about the Greek team... something promising...! :-) The result was a shock to the Portuguese. But this also revealed that the Portuguese people were real sportsmen and excellent fans. The carnival atmosphere brought Greeks and Portuguese celebrating together! There was even a wedding that Saturday in Porto, between a Greek guy and a Portuguese lady! 16th Spain - Greece 1-1. Before the game, the Spanish players were saluting the Greek players, not the usual way, but by showing four fingers. This was translated as the number of goals they were planning to score against us. Their pride had been wounded after being left second in the qualifiers. Spain was looking for revenge... When the game started, Spain was like a storm. Wave after wave, they were creating panic in the Greek defence. Otto had to rearrange some markers, but in the meantime, our defence was carrying three yellow cards in the first twenty minutes. A double mistake allowed Spain to score. After the goal, Spain attacked with even more force and it seemed just a matter of time before they scored again. Greece managed to keep the score at 1-0 in the first half. Otto thinks... he should risk!!! In the second he introduces a third striker! Spain gets a bit puzzled with that move... "The little Greeks return with a third striker? How dare they?" But Spain starts to get nervous as it is Greece now that creates the chances! Eventually Greece gets the equalizer... 1-1! Spain attempts to "correct" the score, but time was running out. The rest of the game was more nervous for Spain than for Greece and it ended in a draw. Now Spain was in trouble as they were facing Portugal. 20th June 2004. Russia - Greece 2-1. Before the Euro, everyone was saying that Russia was the only team that we could beat in our group. But now after getting four points from Portugal and Spain, we were overconfident. First minute 1-0! Russia were attacking in waves like Spain. But they scored again in the 17th minute! 2-0!!! Disaster for Greece, as such a score combined with a Portuguese victory, meant that Greece was out of the next round! While the score was 2-0, Russia hit the post and also missed the biggest scoring chance in the whole Euro! Had they extended the score to 3-0, realistically speaking, there was no coming back. Then Otto thinks again... must send a third striker... must risk again! His plan works once more as the new player wins a crucial header that brings a Greek goal... 2-1!!! After this goal, we looked more comfortable, but there was still Russia's big chance in the last minute where a string of three players failed to push the ball in the net after a very dangerous cross. The final whistle brought a gigantic relief and Greece was celebrating the first time qualifying beyond the first round! Otto and all the Greek players were already heroes!!! 25th June 2004. France - Greece 0-1. "Oh oh!" was the first reaction, when the name of our quartefinal opponents was confirmed. We were indeed playing versus the reigning European Champions France! Their players were big stars in many of Europe's finest teams. Greece, in paper, had absolutely no chance! Although not convincing, France hadn't lost a game yet, and their game history with Greece was quite traumatic for Greece who had been humiliated numerous times. But when the big game begun, someone would have easily mixed up Greece with France. It was Greece playing with grace and hitting the post, it was Greece looking extremely comfortable on the pitch. And after Greece took the lead in the second half, there was no looking back. Santini seemed blacked out. In the last minutes, France tried to restore their pride, but it was too late. A miracle like they did with England, whom they beat with two injury time goals, did not happen this time. Greece had beaten France for the very first time!!! And it was also the first time that all people around Greece were talking about lifting the trophy! And who could blame us? To be the king of the jungle we had to beat the lion, which we just did!!! We were in the semis!!! 1st July 2004. Czech - Republic 0-1 (sliver goal). The Czech Republic was in demonic form as they were the only side with four wins out of four games. It was not only their victories, but they way they managed to get them was almsot robotic. They were like a mean scoring machine which squashed everyone in their path. Just like France, the Czech Republic was a team that had never lost to Greece before. But even their killer instict was not enough to stop the passion of the Greek players. The game started with the Czechs smashing the bar in just over one minute. If anyone goes today to that stadium, they will notice that this bar is still trembling from that fierce shot. After managing to shield against a few more venomous Czech attacks, the game went to extra time. Suddenly the Czechs were out of steam, and it was Greece's turn to create big chances. It seemed to be a matter of time... Greece struck in the dying moments of the first half of extra time. A precious header bringing Greece to the seventh heaven and the Czechs falling on the grass in disbelief. Do they think we also believed what had happened? A cruel ending for the Czech Republic's campaign, but at the same time all Greek people were in delirium. It must be said though, that the Czechs, just like the Portuguese were real sportsmen and excellent fans! :-) 4th July 2004. Portugal - Greece 0-1. The Greek players, despite being more tired as they had played a tiring semifinal in extra time a day later than Portugal, showed once more the passion and determination that was now their trademark. The Portuguese were again overconfident just like the first game. This time though, they were playing in the "Stadium of Light", an arena where the last game they lost was many many decades ago. Local newspapers were relieved that they were playing Greece again so that Portugal can redeem themselves. But they should have been aware of the numerous traditions Greece was breaking in every game...! In a game which proved to be less difficult than the semifinal (but by no means easy!), Greece was crowned European Champions for the first time ever! I do not know about others, but when I saw the goal scored by Greece, I knew that the trophy was ours! Things will never be the same again for Greece, as we managed to win a trophy that many great players had failed to win. But who was Otto? Did he just appear out of the blue? Well, as amazing as it sounds, he was the one who asked the Greek FA for the job. The Greek FA was surprised but they knew he was already a very experienced coach. For fourteen years Otto was the coach of a German club called Werder Bremen. He took them from the second division and he converted them to German Champions, German Cup Winners, and European Cup Winners. As a Bayern Muenchen supporter, I was always extremely puzzled the way Werder, a team of "nobodies", managed to pull out some extraordinary results against a team full of stars like Bayern. This coach had irritated me infinite times and I didn't know what to think. It was the time German sports newspapers gave him nicknames such as "Der General", "Der Koenig" and "Dracula". He had a quick spell with Bayern too, but it was clear that his "coaching monarchy" could not work there. Franz (Der Kaiser) took over maybe too early and Otto was very bitter for that move. After that he went on to coach Kaiserslautern, who were in the second division in Germany, and in two years he transformed them to German Champions. And this was in the expense of who do you think? Bayern! This coach was already driving me nuts, getting on my nerves, he was making me have nightmares! He seemed to always have the last laugh...! But now, Otto was not a football rival for me any more, he was an ally! And it was time for our Euro opponents to become panicked and frustrated, not knowing what hit them! His philosophy was to treat the national team as a normal club. It is well known that national teams are not stronger than clubs, not because they lack talent (on the contrary!), but because the players of a national team do not play many games together, so the notion of a national "team"is more like a paradox. Of course, there are cases where national teams are strongly based on a specific club. So what Otto did, was keeping the exact same players playing again and again until they familiarise with each other. There were times where different players were out of form and he was still letting them play. Some "experts" complained about this, but they were unable to see Otto's long term planning, until now! A strong, compact, hard working, efficient and consistent team had just emerged! For the very first time in European Championship history, the winner had beaten the reigning European Champions (France) the "most in form team" (Czech Republic), and the hosts... twice!!! (Portugal) A stupendous achievement!!! The Greek team under no controversy whatsoever lifted the cup. There was no help by any referee. There was not even a trace of sign of bad sportsmanship. There was no dopping scandal which was not rare in other countries. There were only unknown stars, which that night of the 4th July, were so bright, that they will never be unknown again! Many sports magazines referred to it as the biggest surprise in sport history. Who can blame them? Little Greece was treated as the ultimate underdogs in every single game they played, but we always prevailed. Who could have guessed, that in less than three years a team could be born from their ashes, like Phoenix, to be directly transformed from one of the worst teams of Europe, to the best team in Europe! It is a fairy tale that came true and teaches everyone that with hard work, determination and faith, ANYTHING can be achieved! A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G!!! :-) THE END...